


Finals

by Amahami



Category: Fullmetal Alchemist - All Media Types
Genre: Adult Edward Elric, Edward Elric Swears, Gen, Multi, Polyamory, Post-Canon, Post-Promised Day, Professor Edward Elric, Rated T for swearing, Restored Alphonse Elric, ed does not have alchemy, referenced royed
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-12
Updated: 2020-07-13
Packaged: 2021-03-05 05:15:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,533
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25228924
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Amahami/pseuds/Amahami
Summary: Edward's been teaching at a Central university for a while, and finals week is still the worst.These students have been in his class for at least three years, and now they're taking the written portion of the final in his highest level alchemy course. He has confidence in them, but that doesn't make finals any less of drag.This fic isn't about any relationships, and they aren't a focus, but they do exist.
Relationships: Alphonse Elric/Riza Hawkeye, Mei Chan | May Chang/Alphonse Elric, Riza Hawkeye/Alphonse Elric/Mei Chan | May Chang
Comments: 1
Kudos: 12





	Finals

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [The Circle](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16024952) by [Elfpen](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Elfpen/pseuds/Elfpen). 



> Ed is 25 in this, and I'm not sure if Mei and Hawkeye are together, or if Alphonse is the only joining factor.
> 
> I'd like to thank [shilo1364](https://archiveofourown.org/users/shilo1364/pseuds/shilo1364) for being my long-term alpha reader, and [annachibi](https://archiveofourown.org/users/annachibi/pseuds/annachibi) for being my beta reader.
> 
> I have bigger FMA stuff in the works, but you'll be seeing more of this far sooner.
> 
> Regardless, I hope you enjoy!

Edward walked into his classroom - lecture hall, really - and clapped his hands together to start the lesson.

Everyone looked to Ed, fear in their eyes. Today was test day. The written portion, at any rate.

This wasn't Alchemy 101, oh no, this was Alchemy 438, advanced alchemical theory and practice.

These idiots had been with him for at least a year and a half now, actually passing muster. And now, it was their chance to show everything they'd learned.

Their three-hour session was for nothing but the written portion. The students knew now how tough he was when grading tests at the end of term, and he could see that, terrified though they were, they were ready for it.

Mostly.

The written exam was made up of 300 questions, of increasing difficulty. 150 were multiple-choice, 125 were short answer, and the remaining 25 were either array drawing or long-form answers, all mixed together.

He never expected them to get past 150, and rarely graded beyond the first 150. Any after that were extra credit, and he didn't even have a written answer key for the last 75 questions. 

The test was 35 full sheets of paper bound together like a book, with a dozen blank pages on either end.

If their final test score meant they'd fail his class, he'd allow the student to work on the later questions during his office hours until they got enough right to pass the course.

They didn't know that, and he'd never needed to do it, but he wasn't  _ that _ terrible.

So he passed out the heavy mass of books, asking, "Before we begin, does anyone have any questions, comments, or concerns beyond what we discussed last session?"

One hand went up. He nodded to the brunette, Janice.

"How could you possibly grade all these?" 

There was some chuckling and Ed snorted. "I have an answer key written out, and I have two  _ lovely _ helpers who grade the multiple-choice for me."

Once he'd finished passing the books out, he looked around at all of them, studying their body language. They were all nervous, but not petrified. Good. They were prepared.

Just before he told them to begin, Travis, a hulking black kid, raised their hand.

"Are the lovely helpers the Führer Flame Alchemist and your brother?"

Ed burst into laughter, stumbling over his own feet he was laughing so hard. The class relaxed some at that. 

"Fuck no." He laughed a bit more. "I couldn't get Roy - the Führer, that is - to read anyone's work but mine. Fuck, that's a good one.

"No, Riza - Colonel Hawkeye - is my other helper." He stood at parade rest at the front of the classroom. "Any questions pertaining to the test you're about to take?"

There was a whimper but no hands were raised, so he said, "Begin."

He hated testing days with a passion. They were horrifically important, but fuck if they weren't boring as all hell.

Since these were his first set of final exams, he couldn't even get to work on grading. So he worked on planning the requirements for their practical later in the week.

There were five transmutations he planned to have each student do - one bare basic that focused on the detail and finesse of reconstruction, one beginner level focused on careful deconstruction, one intermediate level focused on comprehension of uncommon elements, one advanced level focused on the understanding of high-complexity arrays requiring a wide array of materials and parts, and finally, one transmutation of their choice.

At the beginning of the year, they'd been tasked with developing their own array to do something - anything - that wouldn't hurt them, any being, or any structures nearby, and had sufficient complexity.

He had a whole fucking rubric, okay? A fucking  _ rubric _ . What was the world coming to?

Al had laughed himself sick when he found it.

"Brother, it's so- so  _ professional!" _

Fucking asshole.

So he sat with his teaching notebook -  _ yes _ he had a separate notebook for teaching, fuck's sake, he could only lose so many important notes to his research before it became unbearable.

_ Level 1: mud into a Yule tree _

_ Level 2: fucked concrete into shape (not mound) of quartz, steel, sand, lime, and other _

_ Level 3: pulling iridium, osmium, rhodium, and tantalum from the earth (percentages augmented by Al) _

_ Level 4: creating a working radio given only a diagram of how one works and all the appropriate elements necessary - include combinations unlikely in the wild (ie stainless steel) _

They would not be given any arrays to help them - this was their practical, showing that they're skilled enough to safely perform alchemy without direct supervision.

Ed checked the fancy pocketwatch Roy'd given him last year; only a half-hour had passed. He groaned internally before pulling out his research notebook.

He got to work double-checking his math for the experimental equations he was working on, then his underdeveloped theories, before finally starting on some new ones.

He thought he might be able to make an array to keep automail ports at body temperature, to avoid problems like in the desert and the north.

Well. He thought he'd be able to get something rudimentary going. Once Al tried it Ed would be able to tweak it from there.

Ed hadn't noticed time passing until a hand was laid over his notebook. He flinched and swung his flesh arm into a backhand, which was easily side-stepped by - "Al?"

"It's noon, Brother," Al replied in an unimpressed voice, his grin contradicting his tone.

Ed jumped up and said, "Alright kiddos, time's up. If you're on a multiple-choice question you're done, that's it. Bring it up front and I'll see you Thursday at your given time slot - remember that it might be later than normal class time, and I expect you to be on time.

"If you're on an open-response question, you have fifteen minutes."

Ed shut his notebook where Al was peering at it, and instead handed Al his teaching notebook.

Al hummed as he looked through the plans for the practical, making a handful of additions and redactions, before turning back to Ed's research notebook and checking over Ed's math and theories, only highlighting two areas of concern - how to limit its intake power regulate how the array uses the energy, of  _ fucking _ course, the one section he was actually sure of.

Once fifteen minutes had passed he walked to the remaining six individuals and collected their tests despite their protestations. "I have a date with some delicious Xingese, so you'll have to forgive my rudeness." 

Ed smiled the way Al told him made generals piss themselves, and his stomach chose that moment to shout its displeasure at the delayed lunch.

The kids smiled, at least, and packed their bags to leave.

Once Ed was packed, he and Al headed to Al, Riza, and Mei's place.

He'd known Mei was making lunch for them - she knew how stressed Ed was about this whole thing, so she planned a special meal - but he didn't know that Riza was home, too. It looked like she'd taken the whole day off - her hair was tied back in a pony and she wore faded sweatpants and a thin shirt with what may have been the shadow of a logo of some band or another.

She smiled when they came in, kissed Al over Ed's shoulder, then kissed Ed's forehead.

"How'd it go?" Riza asked, stepping back so they could remove their shoes.

"They weren't confident, but they weren't petrified either, so I think they learned something this semester." Ed gave her a genuine smile as he walked to the dining room. 

"What about you?" he continued, flumping down on one of the chairs, "What're you doing home this late?" Ed buttered one of the bread rolls Riza had made him before shoving it into his mouth.

"I knew I'd be up all night helping you grade if I didn't sleep in and start in the afternoon," Riza replied, taking his bag to the other end of the table and opening it.

Al walked swiftly over and plucked it off the table and dropped it by the shoes.

"Not until after we eat," Al said in his serious voice. Riza's lips twitched in both amusement and annoyance.

"Five minutes," Mei warned from the kitchen, causing both Riza and Alphonse to jump up and hurry to the bathroom to wash their hands.

Ed rolled his eyes but leisurely walked into the kitchen to wash his hands at the sink there.

Mei graced him with a small smile as she took a pot off the stove and scooped rice into bowls.

By the time everything was ready, they were all sitting at the table patiently.

Mei came out and presented them with spicy eel something-or-other for everyone but Riza, who got non-spicy crab with sauce.

All four put their hands together for a moment before digging in.

Mei started rambling about the stories she grew up on, despite all three of them having heard them before.

It relaxed Ed in a way he didn't know he needed, and he was able to thoroughly enjoy his lunch without stressing about the real work looming ahead.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! This was so much fun to write, and I hope you had fun reading it, too.
> 
> If you have the time and ambition, please leave a comment and let me know what you think!


End file.
